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Olenyoksky Ulus fire, 21 July 2026 Olenyoksky Ulus, Verkhnevilyuysky Ulus, Nyurbinsky Ulus

Out · last detection 9 Sept 2026, 17:37 UTC

The fire started on 21 July 2026 in Olenyoksky Ulus, Russia, and satellites saw it burning for 51 days. Copernicus’s global GWIS system rebuilt a burnt perimeter of 486,255 hectares from heat detections, spread across 3 municipalities.

This page is probably a fire complex, not a single fire. GWIS merges into one perimeter the fires that touch over weeks, which in large burning seasons can join dozens of separate fires. The total area is reliable; the origin and dates refer to the whole complex.

Other fire pages in the same area and on the same dates:

Number 2 in Russia in 2026, of 420.

GWIS near-real-time perimeter, from the layer that changed in October 2025: this fire is not compared with fires from earlier years, because since then the GWIS layer gives more and larger perimeters.

Burnt area
486,255ha
GWIS perimeter (Copernicus)
Duration
51days
21 Jul 2026 – 9 Sept 2026
Municipalities hit
3
districts
Started on
21 Jul
2026
Heat detections
72,151
in a single hotspot: 1,023 MW
Danger at start
14
Moderate · FWI index
Average daily power
19.2GW
detected power per day, on average

Where it burned

HOTSPOTS BY DAY 21 Jul9 Sept
9 Sept 2026

How it evolved, day by day

21 Jul 2026 · 125 MW · 12 22 Jul 2026 · 21 MW · 6 24 Jul 2026 · 62 MW · 12 25 Jul 2026 · 3,938 MW · 408 26 Jul 2026 · 8,137 MW · 786 27 Jul 2026 · 9,972 MW · 1071 28 Jul 2026 · 10,746 MW · 1203 29 Jul 2026 · 17,412 MW · 1074 30 Jul 2026 · 16,409 MW · 2277 31 Jul 2026 · 25,471 MW · 1825 1 Aug 2026 · 19,288 MW · 1805 2 Aug 2026 · 118,926 MW · 2748 3 Aug 2026 · 582 MW · 184 4 Aug 2026 · 2,557 MW · 256 5 Aug 2026 · 6,050 MW · 1183 6 Aug 2026 · 75,987 MW · 5494 7 Aug 2026 · 179,925 MW · 5521 8 Aug 2026 · 81,545 MW · 2412 9 Aug 2026 · 418 MW · 163 10 Aug 2026 · 6,948 MW · 561 11 Aug 2026 · 3,796 MW · 745 12 Aug 2026 · 20,960 MW · 2889 13 Aug 2026 · 16,035 MW · 3005 14 Aug 2026 · 174 MW · 33 15 Aug 2026 · 71 MW · 11 16 Aug 2026 · 295 MW · 44 17 Aug 2026 · 4 MW · 2 19 Aug 2026 · 1 MW · 1 20 Aug 2026 · 2 MW · 2 21 Aug 2026 · 64 MW · 26 22 Aug 2026 · 991 MW · 271 23 Aug 2026 · 5,856 MW · 1099 24 Aug 2026 · 4,481 MW · 870 25 Aug 2026 · 4,115 MW · 1084 26 Aug 2026 · 33,789 MW · 4010 27 Aug 2026 · 24,618 MW · 3072 28 Aug 2026 · 17,637 MW · 3258 29 Aug 2026 · 12,652 MW · 2211 30 Aug 2026 · 35,175 MW · 4788 31 Aug 2026 · 7,329 MW · 1939 1 Sept 2026 · 81,975 MW · 7006 2 Sept 2026 · 63,013 MW · 4068 3 Sept 2026 · 19,904 MW · 1967 4 Sept 2026 · 165 MW · 105 5 Sept 2026 · 394 MW · 70 6 Sept 2026 · 311 MW · 114 7 Sept 2026 · 1,074 MW · 189 8 Sept 2026 · 2,213 MW · 260 9 Sept 2026 · 47 MW · 11
21 Jul 7 Aug 22 Aug 1 Sept

Fire radiative power detected each day, in megawatts, and number of hotspots. The magenta bar marks the peak day.

Fire front film How it spread from one satellite pass to the next (221 passes) and with what wind. Watch the film

The weather it burned in

32°high
51km/h · peak gust
24%lowest humidity

It had gone 2 days without rain (1 mm or more) when it started. Rain came after the fire: 1.0 mm on 9 Sept.

This area had burned before

6% of the perimeter overlaps earlier fires recorded since 2016: 1,125 ha in 2019, 315 ha in 2020, 17,753 ha in 2021, 8,776 ha in 2022, 2,915 ha in 2023, 68 ha in 2025.

How big is it?

20 km
It burned the equivalent of 3.1 times the area of London (4,863 km² against 1,583 km²).

London boundary: geoBoundaries · Office for National Statistics (Open Government Licence v3.0).

This compares size, not location: both shapes are at the same scale, north up, centred on each other.

What happened to each town

  1. Olenyoksky Ulus where it started
    420,221 ha reached on 21 Jul
    1.3 %
  2. 48,668 ha reached on 6 Aug
    1.2 %
  3. 386 ha reached on 25 Aug
    0.0 %

Burnt area inside each municipality, from crossing the GWIS perimeter with administrative boundaries. The distance runs from the point marking the centre of each area to the nearest fire: staying a kilometre away does not mean it reached the houses.

People and buildings inside the perimeter

GHSL 2025
Built-up area< 0.1 ha
Residents< 20

Inside the perimeter there was no noticeable built-up land and almost nobody lived there (GHSL 2025, satellite-based estimate).

This is an estimate on 100 m cells, made from satellite imagery and census data: it does not mean that homes burned or that anyone was harmed. The perimeter also contains land that never burned. The GHSL 2025 epoch is a projection made from 2020 and earlier data.

Source: Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-BUILT-S and GHS-POP R2023A), European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Sum inside the perimeter computed by WorldFires. human-settlement.emergency.copernicus.eu

The weather day by day

ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, the standard reference for past weather, and the Canadian Fire Weather Index (the same system Copernicus uses), computed by WorldFires from that data. Days after the fire run until the first rain.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (ERA5)

Day High Min. humidity Peak gust Rain Danger (FWI)
21 Jul 21.0 °C 31 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
22 Jul 15.1 °C 50 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
23 Jul 20.5 °C 44 % 12 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
24 Jul 23.1 °C 46 % 18 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
25 Jul 21.6 °C 37 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
26 Jul 21.2 °C 24 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
27 Jul 26.6 °C 29 % 19 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
28 Jul 28.8 °C 32 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
29 Jul 31.6 °C 24 % 28 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 19
30 Jul 29.6 °C 31 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
31 Jul 28.4 °C 39 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
1 Aug 29.8 °C 38 % 22 km/h 0.1 mm Moderate 18
2 Aug 29.9 °C 31 % 38 km/h 0.0 mm High 22
3 Aug 19.0 °C 52 % 51 km/h 2.1 mm Low 7
4 Aug 11.8 °C 44 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
5 Aug 18.0 °C 38 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
6 Aug 23.6 °C 28 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
7 Aug 24.1 °C 29 % 43 km/h 0.0 mm High 23
8 Aug 25.1 °C 45 % 30 km/h 1.3 mm Low 10
9 Aug 19.3 °C 68 % 22 km/h 1.8 mm Very low 3
10 Aug 16.5 °C 53 % 33 km/h 0.0 mm Low 7
11 Aug 14.9 °C 50 % 35 km/h 0.0 mm Low 10
12 Aug 15.6 °C 41 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
13 Aug 16.9 °C 36 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
14 Aug 13.3 °C 51 % 36 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
15 Aug 8.9 °C 54 % 30 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 13
16 Aug 12.9 °C 50 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 11
17 Aug 13.6 °C 76 % 28 km/h 3.2 mm Very low 1
18 Aug 10.2 °C 65 % 32 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 3
19 Aug 10.1 °C 58 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Very low 4
20 Aug 15.5 °C 46 % 20 km/h 0.0 mm Low 6
21 Aug 13.5 °C 51 % 23 km/h 0.0 mm Low 8
22 Aug 16.0 °C 40 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Low 11
23 Aug 18.4 °C 35 % 13 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 12
24 Aug 21.0 °C 33 % 26 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
25 Aug 17.4 °C 44 % 28 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
26 Aug 21.2 °C 34 % 31 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
27 Aug 21.8 °C 33 % 29 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 20
28 Aug 21.8 °C 35 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 17
29 Aug 20.5 °C 45 % 30 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
30 Aug 22.5 °C 39 % 27 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 19
31 Aug 22.5 °C 47 % 25 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
1 Sept 25.6 °C 29 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm High 25
2 Sept 25.2 °C 26 % 46 km/h 0.0 mm High 32
3 Sept 15.9 °C 33 % 36 km/h 0.7 mm Moderate 19
4 Sept 14.8 °C 33 % 16 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 16
5 Sept 11.0 °C 47 % 36 km/h 0.2 mm Moderate 19
6 Sept 11.2 °C 46 % 34 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 18
7 Sept 13.5 °C 51 % 22 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 15
8 Sept 15.5 °C 51 % 17 km/h 0.0 mm Moderate 14
9 Sept 14.9 °C 59 % 27 km/h 1.0 mm Low 8

Before and after, from space

Drag the line to compare the same ground before the fire and after it.

Before · 14 Jul 2026
After · 16 Sept 2026

If the day is cloudy, change the date: each satellite passes once a day. In false colour the burnt ground looks brown or red.

The smoke

CAMS · Copernicus

On 28 August 2026 the air beside the fire reached 2,936 µg/m³ of PM2.5. That day averaged 1,532: 102 times the WHO daily guideline (15).

PM2.5 peak2,936 µg/m³
Days over the guideline40 days
PM102,958 µg/m³
Optical depth4.28
15 Jul27 Jul8 Aug20 Aug1 Sept
Good Fair Moderate Poor Very poor Extremely poor

Particles from the Copernicus CAMS model at the centre of the perimeter; these are not measurements in each town. The pale bar is the worst hour, the solid one the daily average.

Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS)

Detections table · 72,151Every satellite heat detection, one by one, with time, satellite, power and coordinates.
⬇ Download CSV Times in UTC. Each detection is a 375 m pixel: a large fire yields hundreds per pass.
Date and timeSatelliteFRP (MW)LatLon

Other fires nearby

All fires in Russia

Frequently asked questions

How long did the Olenyoksky Ulus fire last?
According to the heat detections seen by satellite inside the perimeter, it burned from 21 July 2026 to 9 September 2026 (51 days). The perimeter dates it from 21 July 2026 to 8 September 2026.
How much area did it burn?
The perimeter GWIS (Copernicus) rebuilt from heat detections is 486,255 hectares (4,862.6 km²). It is an estimate: official national figures may differ.
Which municipalities burned?
The fire entered 3 municipalities: Olenyoksky Ulus (420,221 ha, 1.3 %); Verkhnevilyuysky Ulus (48,668 ha, 1.2 %); Nyurbinsky Ulus (386 ha, 0.0 %).
What was the weather like?
During the fire the temperature reached 31.6 °C, humidity dropped to 24 % and gusts hit 51 km/h. The fire danger index (FWI) reached 32, class High.
Where does this data come from?
From the GWIS (Copernicus) burnt perimeter, NASA FIRMS VIIRS hotspots and the administrative boundaries of Russia (geoBoundaries). It is not an official report.

Where to verify it

A satellite detection is not an official report. Final figures and the fire’s status are published by each country’s emergency service.

Emergency number: 112 · Emergency number and official warnings

Satellite cross-check

History of this page · 1 Changes in area, dates, name, official record or merged pages, compared every night since 24 October 2026.
  1. Area: 512,393 → 486,255 ha.

RSS Changes to this page With cross-checks and a citable version

Does something look wrong on this page?

This page is built from satellite data and official records, and it sometimes gets things wrong: the wrong dates, the wrong town, two fires merged into one, or something that was not a wildfire at all. If you know this fire first-hand (you live nearby, saw it, fought it or reported on it), tell us what really happened and we will check it.

Report an error
What do you think is wrong?

We will only use your email to reply about this report. Privacy. This is not an emergency service: if there is a fire now, call 112.

How we know this
  • Perimeter: GWIS (Copernicus), rebuilt from heat detections rather than mapped on imagery; 7 polygons grouped in this page.
  • Dates adjusted with the VIIRS detections inside the perimeter, which said 21 July 2026 to 8 September 2026. 72,151 Suomi-NPP VIIRS detections on those dates.
  • We have not matched this page with any official record.
  • Weather: Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis at the fire location, in cells of about 25 km.
  • Built-up area and population come from the JRC Global Human Settlement Layer (epoch 2025, 100 m cells), summed inside the perimeter: an estimate of what was there, not a damage count.

How we build fire pages: methodology

Where this data comes from

The perimeter comes from the Copernicus Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS), which rebuilds it from MODIS and VIIRS heat detections and publishes it under CC BY 4.0. It is not measured on imagery as in Europe, so it is an estimate. Heat detections come from the VIIRS sensors aboard Suomi-NPP and NOAA-20, distributed by NASA FIRMS at 375 m resolution. Municipal boundaries come from geoBoundaries ADM2 (Open Data Commons Open Database License 1.0). The area per municipality is computed by WorldFires by crossing the perimeter with those boundaries, so it may differ from each country’s official figure.